Armor plating



Patented ay 2, i944 ortica 3 Claims.

lvfy invention relates particularly to what is called laminated armorplating, that is, such plating as is built up of a plurality of layers,instead of consisting of a single layer; and objects of my invention areto increase the resistance of the laminated plating to a projectile; todecrease the penetrative power of a projectile striking the plating; todeflect the course of a projectile through the plating so as to diminishits penetrative effect; to scour or remove from the pro.- jectile greaseor other similar substance calculated to assist its passage throughmetal; to diminish the site of the aperture in the back of the platecaused by a projectile passing through it; and to obtain the other`desirable results hereinafter set forth.

As is well known by those familiar with the art, when a soft jacketedsteel cored projectile strikes a sheet of steel or similar armor platesubstantially at right angles it will punch or drive out of the plate adisk or slug of metal substantially larger than the hard core of theprojectile and will probably drive such disk or slug before it throughthe plating thus causing a hole which is substantially larger thanA theprojectile itself. This result is probably due to the slug cr button ofhard metal lying in a plane at right angles to the longitudinal axis ofthe projectile and being driven flatwise against the metal plating aheadof it. f there are a number of steel plates laminated togethersuccessive disks or slugs increasing in diameter with each plate are aptto be driven out of them so that the hole made by the projectile isconsiderably larger.

If, however, the slug can be tipped to one side or the other from itsinitial plane the projectile will tend to wedge past it and to bend toone side where the resistance of the slug may be least. This results inswerving the projectile from a direct course so that its line of forcein the plating will be more or less oblique and will meet with greaterresistance from the plating because of that fact. To accomplish this, Iintroduce between sheets of steel or other suitable hard metal armor asheet of yieldable material, such, for instance, as rubber, and embed inpockets within the sheet localized quantities of hard, preferablygranulated, material, such for instance, as dry sand, iron filings,emery and similar abrasives, held in local masses within the body of therubber sheet, the rubber of which is sufliciently stili to retain itsshape substantially while being inclosed between the hard metal platesafter which it may be vulcanized by heat so as to cause it to adhere tothe metal plates, holding them together, These pockets of abrasivematerial may be of any desired form but they are preferably disposed sothat neither of them Will completely cross the path of a projectilepiercing the armor plating. Consequently, when a projectile strikes theplate and drives before it the disk or slug referred to above, the slugWill not encounter uniform resistance before it because the portion ofit which may impinge upon the pocket of abrasive material will beretarded, while the part which encounters only the rubber will goforward more readily, thus causing the disk to tip so that the nose ofthe projectile will tend to slip past it to one side, thus wedging inbetween the disk and the hard plating and offering increased resistanceto the projectile, which will also be thrown ofi its direct line offorce and directed more or less to one side, thereby further diminishingits effective force.

Furthermore, the effect of the abrasive on the hard core of theprojectile will be to rub and scour off the grease or other lubricantwhich is usually placed around the projectile before it receives itssoft metal coating. This still further impedes the projectile anddiminishes its penetrative power, so that it results that thepenetrative damage inflicted by the projectile will be materiallydiminished.

In the drawing, in all of which similar parts are designated by similarreference numerals, I have illustrated a piece of laminated armorplating made in accordance with my invention, Fig. l being a perspectiveview of a portion of such a composite plate, partly in section to betterillustrate its construction, and Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view, takenas on the line 2 2 of Fig. l. Steel or other hard metal plates l, 2 formthe two sides of the laminated plate; and between them is inclosed alayer of rubber 3, in which is formed a plurality of pockets 4, 4 lyingwithin the mass of the rubber. These pockets do not open through thesides of the rubber sheet, which presents uniform, unbroken facesagainst the adjacent steel plates. These pockets 4, 4 are lled with anabrasive material 5, such as sand, with the result that the abrasivelies in isolated bodies within the rubber sheet and is not brought intodirect contact with the steel armor plating, These pockets 4, 4 areshown in the drawing as being rectangular; but it should be understoodthat they may be cylindrical or of other unitary form. It is preferablethat they be disposed more or less regularly throughout the rubbersheet, although groups of them may be separated from adjacent pockets bywebs 6, 6 of increased width to aiord greater support to the rubberplate in uniting the steel plates. When the rubber sheet has been placedbetween the steel armor plating it may be vulcanized by applied heat soas to cause it to adhere to the steel plates holding them in properlyassembled relation.

It should be understood that additional rubber sheets similar to the oneabove described may be inserted between successive layers of steelplates to increase the thickness and resistance of the laminatedplating; for, as already pointed out, the upsetting of the slugs punchedfrom the hard metal plates and the scouring and resisting action of theabrasive will continue to occur as the hard core of the projectileencounters successive layers of hard metal.

I wish it to be understood that the embodiment of my invention that Ihave described is to be considered as typical and not as exclusive', for

details may be varied, as by the use of equivalents, without departingfrom the spirit of my invention or the scope of my claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure byVLetters Patent of the United States is:

1. A projectile-resistant structure comprising at least two layers ofarmor plate between which is interposed a layer of relatively yieldablematerial in which are located isolated masses of material havingabrasive qualities adapted to upset a disk or slug driven out of oneplate before such disk 'or slug reaches the second plate.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1 in which the yieldable materialis vulcanized rubber.

3. A structure as specied in claim 1 in which the abrasive material issand.

CHARLES J. HARDY, JR.

